Now, she was no longer alone. Everything was new and different.
Maybe she should’ve been scared.
But this was all she’d ever wanted. Not the fact that Gregory could turn into a dragon, or even his money. But being held in Gregory’s arms, feeling his heart beating against her, and feeling for the first time in her life completely and utterly loved—that was something she’d gladly give up her old life for. This was worth getting kidnapped by dragons.
Mine, her heart whispered silently, and she could feel the shiver that ran through Gregory, as if for some reason he’d been able to hear.
Chapter Eight: Gregory
Gregory stretched lazily. He felt good—incredibly good, in fact. He was tired, but it was the good sort of tired that came from having Naomi in his arms all night.
Then his eyes were drawn to the window, and he slowly began to realize that it wasn’t dawn he was seeing.
His dragon was attuned to the forces of nature, and what his dragon felt wasn’t the slow rise of the sun in the morning, but instead the sensation of the sun sinking into the ocean. It was dusk, the half-hour of twilight before the sun would completely vanish below the horizon.
With a frown, Gregory moved his shoulder, rolling it tentatively as he waited for the pain of knitting bones.
There was no pain. His shoulder was completely healed.
When he drew a hand down his chest, he encountered no pain either. The skin should still be reddened, sensitive like a fading sunburn—but his skin was unblemished. All wounds the fire dragon had left were gone, healed within hours when it should’ve taken a full day.
Gradually, he became aware of a steady warmth that flowed through him. Naomi was pressed against his chest, her head resting trustingly on his arm. She was naked, her skin hot against his own—but the warmth that moved through him wasn’t just body heat.
The warmth came straight from his heart, that fiery core within him that was all dragon.
Surprised, Gregory drew in a breath. Somehow, a mate bond had started to form—and that even though they’d known each other only for such a short time.
He turned his head to gaze at Naomi, reaching out to gently trail his fingers along her cheek. He’d always thought that claiming a mate was mostly a formal event.
The few mating ceremonies he had witnessed had certainly been very elaborate, and the mate bond wasn’t supposed to spring fully to life until the ceremony and the mating.
For a dragon, the ceremony didn’t only declare two people married, but would also declare Gregory an alpha—a dragon shifter who’d come into his full power, who’d also found his mate. A dragon’s power was immense, and only through the mate bond could he find the strength to bear that power without crumbling beneath it.
For some reason he didn’t fully understand, Naomi had already claimed a part of his heart. He could feel her touch on his soul, the same way that he’d felt her fingers on his skin hours ago. They were one... or at least, that connection between their hearts had already surged to life.
The mating ceremony would seal it, but he was already Naomi’s. No other would ever touch his soul the way she had.
At the same moment as he felt Naomi stir at his touch, a sleepy smile appearing on her face as she opened her eyes, he became aware of a different sensation.
It was like a shadow had touched him. For a moment, it blocked out the heat of Naomi, and his body tensed in alarm.
Then he relaxed again. What he’d felt was the approach of another shifter. But it wasn’t the fire dragon.
This was someone he knew very well. It seemed that the council had sent an old friend to check on the situation.
“I know I told you about dragons and werewolves yesterday,” he murmured against Naomi’s ear. “How do you feel about meeting a griffin?”
***
A short while later, after they’d hastily pulled on their clothes once more, they were standing outside on the patio as before them, the sun sank into the ocean with a spectacular display of colors that lit up the sky.
But neither of them had eyes for the clouds that glowed in fiery hues of pink and purple. Instead, they watched the approach of what looked like a large lion with the wings and head of an eagle.
“A griffin,” Naomi breathed. “It’s really a griffin.”
Protectively, Gregory wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “His name is Jared, and he’s my friend. He won’t harm you. But if he’s here on official council business, he might be quite cross with me for getting into a fight on human lands.”
“Next you’ll tell me that Bigfoot is real,” Naomi muttered. “Or... or that dinosaurs are still alive.”